FF dissent:Fianna Fáil backbencher Michael Finneran has denied he is opposed to the Green Party participating in a coalition with his party.
He said he had not broken party ranks in an interview, where he expressed reservations about the Greens' policies. He said his views were known for many years.
"What I did say, on this occasion, was that I hoped the electoral mandate that the Greens received would be reflected proportionately in the programme for government," he added.
In an interview on RTÉ Radio's Drivetime, the Roscommon-South Leitrim TD said he accepted the word of Green Party TD John Gormley that his party was not calling for a ban on live cattle exports.
Mr Finneran said he had been "saying for years" that people should be entitled to build on their own land and export live cattle. He was from a farming background and was entitled to support the 8,000 farmers in Roscommon. He had "all the confidence in the world" in Minister for Finance Brian Cowen and his team to deliver on those issues.
He said government formation was "a numbers game" and Mr Ahern would have "a tight ship to run" with just Fianna Fáil, the PDs and the Independents.
"He has said, from the outset, that he wanted a stable government. I can understand fully his expectation that he would bring the Greens in," he added.
"I have no problem with that. The only issues I have raised regarding policy is that the numbers the Greens have would be reflected in the programme for government. And I think that is a fair expectation of all members of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party, particularly in rural areas. There is nothing different in what I have said today than what I said over the over the past seven or eight or 10 years."
Mr Finneran is a highly-regarded backbencher and has been tipped for a junior ministry in the new government. He was a senator for 10 years before being elected to the Dáil in the old Longford-Roscommon constituency in 2002. In the last election, he headed the poll in the new Roscommon-South Leitrim ward.
